James Cummings can now look back on the career of his best horse Anamoe after he was retired to stud on Friday, but the Godolphin trainer still has to focus on finding winners as the next wave of horses are at the beginning of their carnival preparation for Brisbane and Adelaide.
Anamoe, a nine-time group 1 winner, will not be given his chance at Royal Ascot farewell after Godolphin decided he had nothing left to prove after running third behind Dubai Honour in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Godolphin trainer James Cummings with retired star Anamoe.Credit: Louise Kennerley
“He is simply the best horse I have trained. His impressive record would tell you that,” Cummings said. “He managed to win his group 1s without ever breaking the speed barrier and getting that super rating, but he would win.
“He has carried the weight of expectation since he was a young colt and continually lived up to it.
“He came back as a four-year-old and continued to progress and ran his best rating in a Chipping Norton Stakes after winning a Cox Plate in the spring.
“He will carry that expectation into the next part of his life, and I certainly wouldn’t bet against him living up to that again.”
Anamoe will command a record $121,000 service fee in his first season at stud at Darley’s Hunter Valley base of Kelvinside.
Cummings is taking a short break between carnivals as attention switches from Sydney to Adelaide and Brisbane over the next month but will still have interest in the Hawkesbury stand-alone meeting.
“We have planned to have teams going to Brisbane and Adelaide, and we get to see them on Saturday,” Cummings said. “It’s the way of our stable. It’s sad to see Anamoe go and you miss a horse like him, but we have to keep finding winners.”
Godolphin will run unbeaten filly Zardozi in the Clarendon Stakes for two-year-olds which traditionally opens the Hawkesbury meeting.
It is an illustration of the global nature of Godolphin that a Kingman filly out of Dubawi mare has found her home in Australia after being bred to southern time in Europe.
“You don’t put expectation on a filly like her because of her breeding, but she has done everything right in two runs,” Cummings said. “She runs in a race that has been an excellent launch pad for some nice horses.
“She is a slender filly, so we will see how she goes on Saturday, but there are some races for her in Brisbane.”
Cummings has freshened up Queensland Guineas and Tulloch Stakes winner Character with a view to a return north and gives him an each-way chance in the Hawkesbury Cup. The stable holds a strong hand in the Gold Rush with Athelric, Andermatt and Zethus.
“We started again after a couple of lacklustre runs early in the carnival with Character. The mile is his best trip and he has been working well,” Cummings said. “We are strong in the sprint with Andermatt dropping back from The Galaxy, and Athelric will be better back at the 1100m.
“Zethus has always been at his best fresh.”
Godolphin continues to be selective with the horses it aims at carnivals, so Renosu in the Redelva Stakes and Kallos in the Irwin Stakes at Morphettville are good chances despite drawing wide.
“We would have liked to draw a bit better, but they have targeted Adelaide and have the talent to run in better races, and both of them are in great shape,” Cummings said.
